Car
My lunch break was abbreviated yesterday. I had an email to finish, which made me a sitting target for additional requests from a project manager, which required writing additional emails. I wanted to drop my car off for an oil change and brake pads to get rid of a persistent squeak that in turn trains me to never apply my brakes. I had never taken my car to this place before, but it is a service center attached to a Chevy dealership. I drive a Chevy. It's close to the office, and several of my coworkers go there regularly. It would be even closer if I could walk the most direct route from their property to my office, which would take about one minute at a leisurely pace. That was my first thought. I slipped through the first gate and up the hill to their back lot, but I couldn't squeeze through the second gate. Their entire fence has three rows of barbed wire around the top facing in. My work clothes were fairly brier resistant as I walked the perimeter looking for an outlet, but I didn't see a good way to get up and over. There was one place where a large patch of vines grew over the fence and down the other side, but without any leaves, I couldn't tell if it was poison ivy. I finally gave up, contorted back through the first gate, and walked three quarters of a mile back around to the office. No exaggeration. I still got back to my desk by 1:17 p.m.
The afternoon was a fog of correspondence that had me flipping back and forth between my phone and computer about several different projects. The call from the service center blended right in. The man said my front brakes looked like new and that the squeak was probably from the rear. They recommended a cleaning, for around $30, instead of the new pads for $100. I quickly agreed. The next time I thought about my car was at 7 p.m., at which time my coworkers heard me curse audibly.
Coworker Nick listened to my predicament, and said, "I've got something better." He immediately called the head of the survey dept., and asked if I could borrow the Trailblazer. So, I got to take home the nicest vehicle in T&L's fleet, which is rarely, if ever, used for field survey. This is the 2nd time Nick has gotten me home when I had no other way to get there.
This morning, I arrived early so I could give back the keys before anyone else needed it. Coworkers had already told my story to my boss. He gave me leave to walk down to Harvey's and get my car. They didn't charge me a car storage fee, and even better, there was no squeak! Yay! Meanwhile, at work, I will never, ever, live this down.
The afternoon was a fog of correspondence that had me flipping back and forth between my phone and computer about several different projects. The call from the service center blended right in. The man said my front brakes looked like new and that the squeak was probably from the rear. They recommended a cleaning, for around $30, instead of the new pads for $100. I quickly agreed. The next time I thought about my car was at 7 p.m., at which time my coworkers heard me curse audibly.
Coworker Nick listened to my predicament, and said, "I've got something better." He immediately called the head of the survey dept., and asked if I could borrow the Trailblazer. So, I got to take home the nicest vehicle in T&L's fleet, which is rarely, if ever, used for field survey. This is the 2nd time Nick has gotten me home when I had no other way to get there.
This morning, I arrived early so I could give back the keys before anyone else needed it. Coworkers had already told my story to my boss. He gave me leave to walk down to Harvey's and get my car. They didn't charge me a car storage fee, and even better, there was no squeak! Yay! Meanwhile, at work, I will never, ever, live this down.